Mr. and Mrs. Haddock Abroad: A Novel

In an Afterword written for this new edition, Donald Ogden Stewart recalls the circum­stances surrounding the writing of this book. By 1924 George H. Doran Company had published three books by Stewart. In the spring of 1924 he went to Paris and resided at the Hotel Montparnasse on the Left Bank. There his thoughts turned to another book, something on the theme of Alice in Wonder­land or even the antics of the Marx Brothers, he thought. There emerged Mr. and Mrs. Haddock and their daughter Mildred.

As for Mr. and Mrs. Haddock and their daughter Mildred, if they had informed Donald Ogden Stewart, author of Perfect Behavior (a book on etiquette), of their in­tentions of going abroad there would not have been a book about their imperfect behavior. And Mr. Stewart would have missed out on the opportunity of setting down events—as, if, and when—occurring to this Midwestern American family.

But Mr and Mrs Haddock Abroad is more than a period piece or even a perfect example of Donald Ogden Stewart’s humor; it is the classic story of a Midwestern family travel­ing abroad for the first time, whose broad similarities of experience to that of many another American family provides the per­fect parody.

Donald Ogden Stewart lives in England with his wife Ella Winter.